Weather: Cloudy 73*
Water Temp: 65*
SYLVAN LAKE, NY – Decided to visit a “new” lake today! There are tons of lakes in the area but many fall under the jurisdiction of state parks which require park permits so I decided to try Sylvan lake since it wasn’t too far and it was new (I never been there before). Arrived at the lake about 8:45AM and found the small parking and boat launch. During the peak season I’d suggest you get there early because if I had to guess I’d say maybe 6 cars fit in the parking lot; yes it’s that small (“Early bird catches the worm”). The lake is a perfect circle shape and has about 90% of its shoreline consisting of a flat no deeper than 5ft that goes out a few hundred yards toward the center of the lake. So if you were to look for deep water 12FT or better you will have to troll almost to the center of the lake where it gets very deep. The boat access area is open to public, however for car top boats only!
Once I was on the water I had to decide where I wanted to go. I made a b-line right for the shoreline with trees and lay downs since I’m just comfortable fishing some kind of cover and/or structure. I was well into fishing by 9:15AM and couldn’t find a bite for about 2hrs but I was moving a lot to get an idea of what the lake contour was like and depth. I finally realized the fish were in full spawn on the lake as I saw tons of them cruising around and sitting on beds. My first fish came off a bed that I force fed my Manns -1 crank.
By Noon I was on a pattern of fishing for fish that would be on beds or guarding beds. I started heading back in at 1PM and had hooked up with a total of seven fish for the day; not bad. I’m always satisfied with one fish per hour, more is always better and less is a tough day for me. All fish averaged about 2lbs with my biggest being 3lbs. I look forward to returning to this lake in peak season when sun is blazing and vegetation is in bloom. Half the fish hit the Manns -1 and the other half gently moved my senko (I saw the line move before I knew the fish had the bait).
